Chapter 47
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
Sir Winston Churchill
The next morning....
Fiorentin, Frea, and Felicia arrived in the stronghold area in the late morning. The soldiers who have been waiting for them, informed them that one of the spy eagles located Phelegethon Guild's position. The guild is coming from the north direction, straight towards their stronghold. Their stronghold, made from woods and straws, circled around the border between Payon Forest and Sograt Desert. And just like a normal strongholds, it has its own watch tower, barns, etc. There are several gates and little strongholds surrounding the main strongholds if Phelegethon guild hoping to penetrate the whole defense.
On the right side of the stronghold's, by using their snipers, Clyde and Sasha, Sagramore soldiers have planted claymore traps and various kind of mines, ensured the multiple protections for the strongholds even more. Whereas the left side has been protected by the long lined quick sand traps.
Fiorentin arranged a quick meeting with his higher ups (Felicia and the usually mentioned Sagramore characters) to confirm their plan on facing Phelegethon guild inside one of the rooms in ths main strongholds, who outnumbered them by 20,000 soldiers.
"OK. I'll confirm our plan for the last time. I'll do it really fast since Phelegethon is reaching here. Do I make myself clear?" The former princess declared loudly as her comrades nodded.
"In less than thirty minutes, I want all the soldiers help out two gunslinger and our soldiers of archer class to plant the mines and the the claymore traps in the whole stronghold" Her first order pretty much
caught the attention of her listeners.
"After setting up the traps and mines is done, we will quickly emptied the stronghold. We will turn around from the four points of the desert and circled our oppositions, the Phelegethon Guild. The percentage of this happening is nearly 80%. Considering Phelegethon outnumbered us, they will pretty much confident of their chance of winning and surround the stronghold, without knowing we are already gone. Do I make myself clear?" Fiorentin finished her explanation as none of the soldiers seemed confused.
Frea, who was experiencing her first time listening to Fiorentin's planning, pretty much amazed by the lord knight, "Wow, she really planned all her moves perfectly. So, that's why she asked her soldiers to build the strongholds from woods and straws, because they are flammable. I get it know". And then, the plan carried out.
Three hours after that. Around six miles from the north side of the stronghold....
A sound of thousands of feets marching slowly to the stronghold could be heard echoed in the sandy ground of Sograt Desert, shaking the very points they stepped each time their feets touching the sand. The dust rampaged everywhere as the steps goes on and on. 45,000 Bloody Murderers, 15,000 Wanderers, 10,000 Dullahan, And 10,000 Whispers are slowly marching towards the stronghold led by Lord of Death and his vice leader, Bacsojin. Upon arriving near the stronghold, The Lord of Death commanded loudly, "Phelegethon, stop!!", and makes his soldiers discontinued their steps.
Lord of Death stared at the stronghold suspiciously, noticing that something is not right. "What is happening, my lord? Why did you order the soldiers to stop?" Bacsojin asked him out of curiousity.
Lord of Death was a creature of few words, but he still slowly answered, "Didn't you notice, Bacsojin? The stronghold is large and seems to have its own defense protecting it. But it's too calm. I feel little to no life presence from it".
His eerie voice explained his mind, as Bacsojin turned her attention on the stronghold again. "Should we send some of the soldiers there, my lord?" The white lady asked again.
"Let's do that. I guess it's better to do something other than waiting" Lord of Death simply replied. He turned around and ordered his soldiers, "Whispers!!! I order you to get inside the stronghold and find any signs of life!! If you find Sagramore soldiers, don't hesitate to kill them! Move, now!!". The whispers wasted no time on rushing towards the strongholds. They don't need to break the walls because they are ghost, so it was easy for them to get through the big stronghold.
They looked around the strongholds to find any signs of life, but their efforts proved to be absurd. They found no one inside the stronghold. One of the whispers returns outside to see his leader, and informed him about the strongholds.
"It's weird. Sagramore....abandoned their stronghold?" Bacsojin commented the news. Lord of Death, however, still aware of the suspicious condition "Perhaps this is some kind of traps. But, I'm not really sure. Bacsojin, order the Dullahans to look around the areas of the stronghold. We will know if this is some kind of trap or not. I'm sure maybe some of them are hiding in the desert, waiting for a chance to attack us. And send the whispers with them as well".
"Yes, my lord!" The white lady floated into the air and order the Dullahans to search the areas surrounding the strongholds, "Dullahans!! Lord of Death ordered you to search the Sagramore soldiers hiding in the desert. Take a whisper with each of you and send the whisper here if you find them!!". The Dullahans wasted no time on doing their orders and quickly split to search for their opponents.
From far away, several Sagramore soldiers could be seen hiding behind a little mounts of sands. Fiorentin who was spying Phelegethon guild with a scope, found herself quite surprised when she saw the whole thing happened. "They have a good team work. And Lord of Death seems to be pretty clever, too. Maybe we will have to wait some more minutes before they fell in our trap. This won't be easy" She said to hedrself, admitting her opponents are not as stupid as she though.
The lord knight decided to discuss her move with her most trusted friend and her vice leader. "Felicia! Lord Alphard! Take a look at this, what do you think?" The former princess called. The two mentioned name approach her and have their turns on seeing the enemies.
"They aren't bad. Perhaps, it takes time before your plan could take place, princess" The male lord knight commented.
"I agree with Lord Alphard. I think it would be wise to wait for several minutes. If some Dullahans and whispers happen to see us, we will have to kill them to silence them so Lord of Death won't find us" Felicia pretty much officialized the plan to wait for some more minutes.
Several feets behind the scoping spot, George is seen talking with Clyde seriously. "So, Fio asked you to explode the entire mines and traps when she gives you sign, huh?" George was asking him about the plan.
"Yeah. She told me to wait till the right time to hit the button. I'll abide by her order". George nodded but something cross his mind and he asked, "Hey, Elraven is your vice-captain, right? How did he become so strong? I mean...I know a gunslinger is strong, but don't you think Elraven is a bit...over the top?" .
Clyde narrowed his eyes when he first heard George but quickly answered afterwards, "Well, he is over, indeed. If you ask me why he's so powerful for a gunslinger....well, I couldn't really answer that. Perhaps you should ask him in person once we get back to Payon". Clyde's answer, however, didn't seem to please the champion, who grunted when he heard the answer.
"What's up, George?" Clyde seemed suspicious. But George quickly responded with,"No, nothing. Thanks for answering", to the gunslinger.
And several feets behind them, Sasha was seen talking with Frea, with Wendy and Kirigi peeking on them. Sasha was trying to encourage herself to her vice-captain's lover. A position perhaps she will never achieve.
"Um...miss Frea?" The young gunslinger spoke first. "Oh, dear. Frea is fine" An adorable reply from the white haired soul linker (plus an honest smile), making Sasha blushed her face.
"Uh, OK. I hope you don't mind me asking, but what do you think make vice captain likes you?" Sasha slowly asked. Kirigi and Wendy who were spying on them, began to make a bet again.
"I bet our leader likes him cause he kicks ass!! Both in the battle fields and in the bed!!!" Wendy voiced her opinion. But as usual, Kirigi disagrees with his companion, "Nonsense!! Our leader likes him because Elraven is a gentle and kind hearted man! I'm sure of it".
After thinking for some time Frea finally answered Sasha, "Well, I like him because he's gentle and kind hearted. And not to mention he kicks ass, both in the battle fields and in the bed". The answer pretty much made Sasha, Kirigi, and Wendy dropped their jaw.
An hour later....
Fortunately for Sagramore, the dullahans and the whispers found nothing regarding their hideouts. They later returned to inform their leaders about their findings. "So, it appears that Sagramore really left their strongholds. But I'm still in doubt" Lord of Death calmly voiced his mind regarding Sagramore's trap.
"If that is your opinion, what should we do for now my lord? Should we wait for some more time" Bacsojin respectedly asked her leader.
"No. We can't waste more time than this. I'll take the dullahans and the whispers with me to inside the strongholds. You will wait with the wanderers and the bloody murderers right here, in case if something happens. Do I make myself clear, Bacsojin?" The Lord of Death ordered his guild with a deep cold voice, which the white lady responded by bowing her head.
The Lord of Death marched inside the strongholds with the dullahans and the whispers as planned. Scoping from her spot, Fiorentin grinned as the sign of her plan being successful. "This is it!" She said to herself as she gave a thumbs up to the soldiers waiting behind her.
"It's the sign" Clyde noticed and hit the button.
GLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!
The sound of the explosion of the stronghold echoed to the sky. Thousand of burned wooden pieces flew everywhere, shocking Bacsojin and the rest of Phelegethon guild. A big screen of smoke start emerging as Fiorentin and her Sagramore prepare to launch the attack they have been waiting for. "The plan goes successfully! Planting the traps and emptying the stronghold were just phase one. Phase two is when Phelegethon entered the empty stronghold, we blow it off!! And since this smoke screen covered our entrance, we'll be able to attack them now!" The former princess re-explained the plan to herself as she ride on a peco and rushes with her soldiers to where the remaining of Phelegethon Guild waited.
Meanhwile, Bacsojin was trying to maintain her soldiers. "Wanderers! Bloody Murderers! Maintain your position!!! Maybe Sagramore will...waht is that?" Her order was cut short when she noticed a loud sound of war cry was approaching them. And before she managed to anticipate the attack, Sagramore was already attacking them.
The lord knights and the paladins rode the pecos were on the front line of the attack, led by Fiorentin and Alphard (riding pecos too of course). Palamedes were behind them, having the order to make a quick attack soon after the lord knights, the champions, and the paladins enggage Phelegethon in battle. The snipers and the high priests, by the order of by General Dorn and General Hagi will provide a long range attack from the woods.
Fiorentin, being the lead attack in her two hand quicken mode, wasted no time whe she saw a group of wanderers and bloody murderers tried to stop her. He cut the head of one of the bloody murderers quickly and mercilessly slashed three others as their bloods splattered everywhere. The wanderers tried to gang up on her when they jumped suuround her and tried to stab her at the same time. However, their effort proved useless as Fiorentin simply smashed them with the Magnum Break, killing all of them at the same time.
As more bloody murderers tried to attack her, she gets her Schweizerschabel with her left hand and jumped right to the middle of the bloody murderers group. She hits the schewizerschabel to the ground and electrouted some of the bloody murderers. Afterwards, she stabs two of them in the neck using her swords and proceed to slash their faces into two. Giving the bloody murderers no chance to counter the attack, she spins around the sandy ground and rolls her body as she slices the bloody murderers legs and makes them fall to the ground at the same time. She finally finishes them off their misery by hitting the Magnum Break to the sandy ground with both her swords, killing all of them in an instant.
Not far from her, in the middle of the battles, Felicia saw the entire massacre performed by Fiorentin, "Wow! Fio kicks ass!! She's as bad as hell whenever she doesn't face humans!!!". Not wanting to miss the glory, Felicia hits the grand cross to the ground an swipe away a dozen bloody murderers, proving her worthiness as both paladin and Alexandria's right hand woman. Five wanderersa trying to get rid of her as they quickly trying to give her their slashes from her behind. Felicia truned around and quickly stabs all of them using her Lance. The two hand quciken and salvador riding made the attack even faster.
George, already surrounded by his spirits, also feel the same way as the paladin. He gives a bloody murderer a taste of his spirit right to his face, send him flying several feets away to the air before dropping harsly on the ground. He quickly noticed two wanderers are trying to slash him from behind. George dodged both slashes and hits one of the wanderers with his double attack. Wasting nochance to continue his rampage, George hits the other one with his triple attack and seals their defeat.
In the midst of the battle, Frea was giving Phelegethon's bloody murderers a run for their money. Using her Estun and Esma holy element combination, a dozen bloody murderers proved no match for her. When she realized more bloody murderers are trying to attack her, she creates the estun like a round shaped boomerang and throws the magic to her enemies. The esma hits several of the bloody murderers when some of them managed to dodge the attack and escape. Thinking they are safe from the attck, the bloody murderers tried to attack her once again, only to have a sudden hit by the esma from their behind. "Don't they know boomerang kicks ass?" Frea said to herself.
Seeing their new comrades greatness makes Clyde and Sasha more spirited to prove the power of Ropera Squad. Sasha, attacking from the last line, bombarding the wanderers with her Gate Keepers-DD. The skull samurai warriors couldn't even get anywhere near her. Clyde was having a confrontation with a group of Bloody murderers. The bloody murderers attacks him repeatedly but he always manages to dodge their slashes. Clyde sneaked his way between them as he readied his soldier handguns. Like a dance, he shots all the bloody murderers before they even had their chances to even realize his attack. He shot two of them in the head, another two in the body afterwards. Moving his guns like pulling the strings smoothly, he shoots another two in the head and finishes all of them by rolling his body while shooting all of them in one roll.
Meanwhile, Alphard was proving his dominance. He unsheathed his Tegron as he moved quickly among the bloody murderers and the wanderers. The lord knight stab his Tegron to the sandy ground as the bloody murderers and the wanderers quickly tried to gang up on him. But before they even realize, the ground shakes and the sand explodes, sending all of them flying to the air. Everyone, especially Fiorentin and Felicia quickly noticed Alphard's work. "It's The Stream. His specialty!!! It's been a long time since the last time I saw that!!! Hw must have used the sream of the air surrounding him to explode the ground" Fiorentin said to herself. "The ability to use anything streaming as his weapon, what a power" Felicia added.
Bacsojin was left speechless when she witness her soldiers are being kicked out by Sagramore. The lord knights, the champions, and the paladins managed to gain the upper hands in the desert. The arrow attack from the snipers from inside the woods make it even better for Sagramore. "We outnumbered them!!! How did they do this?!".
But her minds quickly come to an ease, as she reazlied a large shadow is approaching from where the stronghold lied before. Lord of Death emerged from as the smokes screen starts fading away, much to the dismay of Fiorentin and Sagramore. "What? He's still alive?!" Fiorentin couldn't believe what she saw.
"Darkness Spear" Lord of Death whispered as he rushes in the middle of the war right between the group of lord knights. He stabs his giant spear in demon speed, killing a dozen lord knigths before they could even react. Several paladins and champions tried attack him with their Grand Cross combined, but they widened their eyes when they saw they didn't even scratched him. Lord of Death mercilessly stabs one of the paladins and throws him to the air. Using his demon horse, he stomps to the ground and sends the paladins and the champions feets away behind. "Bacsojin!!! Release the Iron Squad, right now!!!" The Lord of Death loudly ordered Bacsojin who quickly cast a warp gate. Sagramore witness as many fully armored soldiers appeared from the gate, bringing Chainsaw, Assault Rifle, and Cannon with them.
Seeing the new opponents, Fiorentin couldn't help but wonder, "What are they? Is this the new technology Elraven warned us about?". "Iron Squad, attack!!!" The Lord of Death orders echoed in the desert as the Iron squad joins the battle. The cannon soldiers greet Sagramore with their destructive weapons, making an explosions and Sagramore soldiers' bloods or body parts splattered everywhere whenever they hit their targets. The assault rifles soldiers make a quick work of whoever tried to engage them in a close range combat, whether it's the paladins, the lord knights, or the champions. The same goes for the chainsaw soldiers, they mercilessly cut whoever comes for them. Their swords and spears proved ineffective against the Iron Squad armors.
"George, help me defeat the Lord of Death!! If we defeat the leader, the attack will stop!!!" Felicia asked George to aid her as the champion nodded. Felicia and George rushed towards The Lord of Death direction. The Phelegethon Guild Leader was busy killing more and more Sagramore soldiers. His Darkness Spear proved destructive in the battle field as more and more bodies flew away.
"Pierce!!" Felicia threw away her attack as Lord of Death noticed, countering her spear back when the spears made a clash sound. The Lord of Death moves forward and hits Felicia's right shoulder with his spear's hilt, almost making the paladin drop to the ground. "Ukh!" She flinches when she saw the mosnter already prepared to attack her again. But George come to the rescue as he uses his Finger Offensive to attack the horse. Although he managed to stop the Lord of Death from attacking Felicia, the armor covering the demon horse proved George attacks didn't rezlly hit him. Felicia pulled out her Saber and engage the Lord of Death in a close range combat. Felicia uses the saber to attack the Lord of Death repeatedly, but the monster managed to block the entire slashes by using his gigantic shield. Knowing her chance with the sdaber is little to nothing, she quickly changes her weapon back to her spear and hits the grand cross right to the shield. The attack managed to bulge The Lord of Death for a second. Wasting no time after having a chance, George gave Lord of Death's horse a triple attack and makes him step several feets backwards. But the Phelegethon guild leader didn't want humans to stain his honor. He rushes his Darkness Spear as Felicia comes forward and strikes her two handed quicken spear.
TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!TRANK!
The two steps several feets backwards when their respective weapons finished clashing. Felicia locked eyes with the guild leader. "Damn, he's great!! As expected from a guild leader!!!" Felicia thought to herself. "Not bad for a mortal" The Lord of Death literally think the same.
The situation continues to turn the table as the Iron Squad managed to gives Phelegethon Guild the upper hands. However, Fiorentin didn't want to lose momentum and tried to encourage Sagramore, "We need to push them to the quick sand!!! No matter how hard the armor is, no way they would be a quick sand proof!!!". She quickly rides her peco back and approaches Clyde. "Clyde!!! The blue smoke!!!" She shouted as the gunslinger, knwoing that was a sign, quickly pulls his Grenade launcher loaded with the ice round and shoot it to the sky, making a blue smoke screen. Sagramore, have already been told what does that mean, quickly retreated from the battle field. Felicia and George quickly follow the order.
Seeing their enemies run away, Lord of Death and Bacsojin couldn't help but ordering their soldiers to chase them, "Don't let them run!!! Get them!!!". Sagramore runs to the left side of the battle field after taking a turn around. Phelegethon Guild chase them away, but surprise after seeing them split in the middle of the way. Half of the Sagramore runs to the forest when the other half runs circling around their first spotted spot.
"What are they doing? This is like seeing them entering a culdesac" Lord of Death said to himself as he keep chasing Sagramore away. But he failed to notice, as his soldiers stepped on the sandy ground while continue chasing, all of a sudden they sinked to the desert. Not only the remaining bloody murderers and wanderers, but also the Iron Squad soldiers. Lord of Death stopped his horse as more and more of his soldiers sinking to the sandy ground. "Aaaah!! What is this?!! What is this?!! Help!!!" The Iron Squad soldiers cried for help as they sinked to their deaths.
"What is happening, my lord?" Bacsojin asked her leader in fear. "This is a quicksand trap!! They made a trap in an area we didn't notice, right on the left side of the strongholds. That's why they turned around and make it looks like they were running. Half of them ran to the forest was also to cover this trap too!! To prevent us from realizing this trap!!! Tell the soldiers to stop chasing them!! Now!!!" Lord of Death quickly explained.
Seeing the enemies were confused, Felicia stopped her Salavdor and prepared to throw away her lance. She spotted Bacsojin was trying to stop Phelegethon to chase them any further. Felicia throwa away her lance. Bacsojin, who was totally unnoticed the lance, order the soldiers to stop, "Phelegethon...aaakh!".
Lord of Death stood still when he saw his vice leader fell to the ground after Felicia's spear perfectly hit her right on her torso, killing her for good.
Phelegethon stop chasing Sagramore at that moment. Sagramore too, stop running away. Fiorentin quickly turned around to see Felicia's doing. "Bull's eye!" Felicia said to herself as Lord of Death slowly appoached Bacsojin's dead body. The Phelegethon Guild leader take a good look on her dead body. Bacsojin turned into dust, leaving the lance stucked in the desert. All of a sudden, he slashed Felicia's lance and cut it into two, dropping the other parts to the sandy ground.
"Oh, no!! My lance!!" Felicia muttered seeing her lance is now broken. Lord of Death slowly approaches the front line, having only the line of the quick sand separating him with Sagramore. "Alexandria!" He said loudly. "I acknowledged my defeat. For now, Phelegethon Guild will retreat. And as for you, Paladin!" He pointed his finger to Felicia, who returned his favor by staring at him. "The next time we meet, I will make you pay!" The Lord of Death proclaimed. Large warp gates appears in the desert behind Phelegethon and they calmly retreated, leaving Sagramore as the victor.
"We won?" George asked Fiorentin.
"For now" The lord knight replied.
"We won!!! Long live Sagramore!!!!" George proclaimed as the remaining Sagramore soldiers rejoiced with him. "LONG LIVE SAGRAMORE!!!!" They loudly replied.
Felicia and Alphard slowly approached Fiorentin.
"Well, that was a good trap, Fiorentin. Your plan worked again. Just like you always did" Alphard praised his fiancee.
"Well, thank you. But the true hero is Felicia. What you did was amzing, Fel. You literally stopped the whole war" Fiorentin patted on Felicia's shoulder.
"Thank you, Fio. Too bad my lance is now broken. That's a bad thing" Felicia shook her head.
"Don't forget your head is the next on Lord of Death list's to kill. That's a bad thing, too" Fiorentin smirked. Felicia smiled responding to her leader.
The victory is worth celebrating. Too bad, they don't know a very bad news is waiting for them at Payon.
****
WARNING : MY INTERNET CONNECTION WILL HAVE A MAINTENANCE FOR...MAYBE A WEEK. SO I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REPLY MESSAGES OR UPDATE (SOB,SOB).
Back to the story, I did my best writing this chapter. Personally, I found it hard writing a chapter with middle aged typed war on it. I found Moonlight Rave was a lot easier to wrote. Perhaps because this is my first time writing that kind of war or perhaps I was just not that into sword type combat? LOL. Anyway, I'll do better next time, I promise.
And I would like to note Felicia's role in this chapter. Personally, I think she is the best supporting character so far. She played a mother figure quite nice and she's a good warrior. I enjoyed writing her confrontation with Lord of Death in one part of this chapter. I enjoyed it so much I even realized I almost forgot to gave George his part (LOL, sorry George fans). The reason why I got Felicia a score to settle with one of the guild leaders is because I want her to have a bigger role in the future installment of the story.
Well, thanks for reading this beginner story. Review if u want. See u next chap!!!